Boy Scouts of America sacks openly gay scout leader
The Boy Scouts of America (BSA) has sacked a scoutmaster after finding out that he is openly gay.
Just months after the BSA changed its policy to allow openly gay scout members, the organisation has used its policy still banning gay scouting leaders to “revoke” the position of one of its leaders.
Geoff McGrath, a 49-year-old, was the leader of Troop 98 until this week, when he had his leadership of the troop “revoked”.
According to reports, McGrath had been asked by Reverend Monica Corsaro to start a new troop, and because he did not hide the fact that he is gay, news reports got back to BSA headquarters.
BSA spokesman Deron Smith said the organisation had no intention of dismissing McGrath until reporters contacted the organisation to ask about his sexuality.
“Our policy is that we do not ask people about their sexual orientation and it’s not an issue until they deliberately inject it into Scouting in an inappropriate fashion,” Mr Smith told NBC.
McGrath said he thought he was the only openly gay BSA scout leader in the US, prior to his dismissal.
Speaking to the Daily Mail, he said: “It’s extremely disappointing to not be fully supported and defended in my membership… They are complaining that the [gay] problem is a distraction to Scouting and they don’t seem to understand that the distraction is self-inflicted.”
